▪ I. † Mack n.3 Obs.
Variant of Mac1.
Used contemptuously for: A Celtic Irishman. Also attrib.
| [1596 Spenser State Irel. Wks. (Globe ed.) 677/1 The Oes and Macks, which the heads of the septs have taken to theyr names.] 1617 Moryson Itin. ii. 138, I cannot dissemble how confident I am, to beate these Spanish Dons, as well as euer I did our Irish Macks and Oes. 1681 Luttrell Brief Rel. (1857) I. 91 Another of these Mack Irish papists has sworn that [etc.]. c 1688 New Letany iii. in Third Collect. Poems 8/1 Who's Rid, and Impos'd on, by many a score Of Priests, Macks, and Footmen, his Q. and his Wh—. |
▪ II. Mack, n.6
(mæk)
[f. Mack, name of manufacturer.]
The proprietary name of several types of heavy vehicle, as lorries, tractors, etc. Also attrib.
| 1913 Hand Bk. Gasoline Automobiles (U.S. Automobile Board of Trade) 165 (caption) Mack 2-ton truck. 1921 Official Gaz. (U.S. Patent Office) 4 Jan. 192/1 International Motor Company, New York, N.Y... Mack..[for] Motor-Trucks. Claims use since about Oct. 13, 1911. 1930 J. Dos Passos 42nd Parallel v. 401 Charley..started to help clean the parts of the carburetor of a Mack truck. 1948 Partridge Dict. Forces' Slang 114 Mack, a ten-ton lorry. (Army.) 1959 E. K. Wenlock Kitchin's Road Transport Law (ed. 12) 85/1 Mack type N.M. heavy artillery tractors may be used for snow ploughing, or grit or salt distribution on frosty roads, notwithstanding their excess width. 1962 Times 27 Nov. 13/3 A fleet of ‘Macks’—snow-shifters. 1971 M. Tak Truck Talk 103 Mack, a popular, economical and long-wearing make of tractor, the one best known to the public... The Mack engine has a characteristic sound... The Mack trademark is a bulldog. 1972 Marshall & Bishop Lorries, Trucks & Vans 123 No other name can surely be more autonomous with the US truck industry than Mack. ‘Built like a Mack’ is still a phrase used by Americans to signify something solid or sturdy. 1973 Trade Marks Jrnl. 13 June 1141/2 Mack... Commercial motor road vehicles and parts and fittings therefor..Mack Trucks, Inc..., Allentown, State of Pennsylvania, United States of America; manufacturers. |